Formation
There are 2 sets of conjugations for regular verbs in the preterite tense.
This tense is formed by adding the endings to the stem of the verb.
Here are the endings for regular verbs that end in -ar.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| first person | é | amos |
| second person | aste | asteis |
| third person | ó | aron |
yo hablé
tú hablaste
él/ella/usted habló
nosotros hablamos
vosotros hablasteis
ellos/ellas/ustedes hablaron
Here are the endings for regular verbs that end in -er or -ir.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| first person | í | imos |
| second person | iste | isteis |
| third person | ió | ieron |
yo bebí
tú bebiste
él/ella/usted bebió
nosotros bebimos
vosotros bebisteis
ellos/ellas/ustedes bebieron
Usage
The preterite tense is a past tense used to describe actions that lasted for a specific amount of time. In other words, the action had a completion point. (This is in contrast with the imperfect tense, which describes habitual, continuous actions in the past.)
Carlos llegó hace dos días. Carlos arrived two days ago.
Ellas comieron las galletas ayer. They ate the cookies yesterday.
Phrases such as “yesterday” and “last week/month/year” will be commonly used with the preterite tense, because they describe when the action was completed.
For example:
| María comió la cena ayer. Mary ate dinner yesterday |
| Viajé a España el año pasado. I traveled to Spain last year. |
Notice how these actions are definitely completed, and were a one-time thing.